1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pesticide, and more particularly, this invention relates to substituted acetate compounds of the formula (I) hereinafter described useful for controlling arthropods, pesticidal compositions containing as active ingredients at least one substituted acetate compound of the formula (I), as well as processes for preparing the substituted acetate compounds and the pesticidal compositions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since BHC and DDT have been developed, remarkable advances have been made in organic agricultural agents such as phosphorus agents, carbamates, pyrethroids and the progress of such organic agricultural agents now establishes a certain close correlation between the consumed quantity of pesticides and the harvested quantity of crops. However, on the other hand, these agricultural agents have caused pollution due to environmental contamination and at present there are many problems such as the accumulation of toxicity and the chronic toxicity as well as the generation of a wide variety of pesticide-resistant noxious insects. The desirable requirements for pesticides are, therefore, that the active pesticides exhibit a low toxicity, a low residual and a rapid decomposition and they are converted into non-toxic materials upon entrance into one of the biological cycles of the ecological system. In particular, compounds containing no heavy metals nor halogen atoms and composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are considered to be advantageous as agricultural agents.
The active groups of the pesticides presently used include organic phosphorus compounds, carbamates, chrysanthemic acid esters, organochloric compounds, etc., and most of the researchers in this field now endeavour to develop new types of pesticides by considering the superiority or inferiority of each of the above active groups and screening various synthetic derivatives retaining only the superiority of the known pesticides.
The present inventors considered that each of the above well-known active groups has certain properties as basic pesticidal characteristics inherent to the specific active group and that the disadvantages associated with the specific active group would not be eliminated unless departing from the above specific properties. As a result of extensive research for active groups having novel chemical structures, the present inventors found the new and useful acetic acid esters represented by the formula (I) described below.